The field of the invention relates generally to charging stations and, more particularly, to a network access system for use in providing access to a network to a user of a charging station.
At least partially in response to increasing fuel costs related to the use of conventional combustion engine vehicles, the use of electric vehicles has increased. Accordingly, energy demand has increased in the form of electrical energy used to charge batteries or other energy sources used in such vehicles. Moreover, with an increase in the number of electric vehicles being used by consumers, electric vehicle charging stations (EVCS) have become increasingly prominent throughout the world in order to provide energy to the electric vehicles.
In at least some known EVCS, a user can easily activate a unit at the station to start the flow of electrical energy into a battery located within his or her electric vehicle by passing their radio frequency identification (RFID) tag across a reader located on the unit. A charging time of an electric vehicle depends on various factors including, but not being limited to, environmental conditions, the size of the vehicle's battery, the charging level and the size of the charger for the battery, and state of the charge of the battery when the vehicle is coupled to the EVCS. Depending on such factors, a typical charging time for an electric vehicle may be between approximately two hours to approximately eight hours in length.
At least some known EVCSs do not provide remote notification of a charging status of an electric vehicle. As a result, in order for a user to determine the charging status of his or her electric vehicle, the user must physically inspect the vehicle at the EVCS. As such, the charging process can be a tedious and/or time consuming task for the user and not knowing when the electric vehicle is charged may impose constraints as to how far the user can travel from the charging station. Such limitations may cause the user to suffer from boredom while he or she waits for the electric vehicle to charge. Moreover, at least some known EVCSs do not provide access to a network to enable the user to access the internet or perform other activities while the user waits for his or her electric vehicle to charge.